A PLACE OF TRANSFER

FROM A FRIEND'S BLOG:

"This summer, like I’ve said before, has brought on a lot of change in my life. Right now I don’t know what the future holds. A common saying that’s been floating around my house is that I’m “waiting in the hallway…” I was pushed out of one door, and now I’m waiting for the next one to open. I know that as long as I trust Him that every thing will work out. The only problem is that the wallpaper is starting to get really ugly, the lighting is poor and it smells. However if the lighting wasn’t poor, it didn’t smell, and the wallpaper was pretty, I wouldn’t mind the hallway. If I didn’t mind the hallway, then I wouldn’t have to depend and have faith in God to get me out of." -- Stephen Davalos

Insightful. The hallway isn't an entirely pleasant place to be. Yours may be decorated with Pottery Barn frames around pretty pictures and a gorgeous light with plush carpeting --- but it's still a hallway. A place of transfer. We aren't meant to live there. We need to progress.

But our reliance on God and His care for us will be nurtured there. We have to keep walking down that hallway, trusting God in each step that a door will be opened by His all-knowing hand. As each step we take requires us to remove our supporting foot from the solid surface it was enjoying to be lifted into the unfirm of air, we breathe "I'm trusting You."

Be assured: God is in the hallway. But like the Israelites in the dessert, He does not intend for you to live there. If you follow, He will lead, and a door will open when His time is right. He will lead you out.

But have you convinced yourself that it's comfortable in your hallway? Is the hallway your home? Child, Jesus has more for you than that narrow corridor! The manna He supplies for you there is nothing compared to the feast that awaits your arrival. Take the trust step. Lean fully into His capable arms. Don't settle for the hallway.

God assigned someone from each tribe of Israel to scout out what lie through the doorway. The Israelites did not think the space on the other side of the doorway was better than the hallway. They did not trust in God's ability nor His direction. Caleb and Joshua were the only scouts that insisted they were able to take the land. Though God then refused to allow the remaining Israelites to enter through that door because of their unbelief, God allowed Joshua and Caleb, of whom He called "His servant," because "he has a different spirit and has followed Me fully." Caleb's faith in God's ability and His willingness to follow whole-heartedly set him apart. He was from the tribe of Judah, from whence would come our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Follow God fully. Have a "different Spirit" than others. Have the confidence in God to lead you out of that hallway and into something better than you can imagine. And speak it out. Your time in the hallway has an expiration date.

As Moses said to Joshua in the sight of all Israel : "Be strong and courageous, .... It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed." (Deuteronomy 31:7,8)